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Summon Night 5 |OT| Swordcraft Strategy

Let's not jump to conclusions. Your copy might still ship earlier. And you've been able to play your (digital) copy for months now. Putting the physical copy sealed on your shelves surely can wait a few days more, can it?
You also get a digital copy from VGP

My complaints were never about the delays. I have an issue with the TOTAL lack of communication
 
You also get a digital copy from VGP

My point was that it doesn't really matter that much anymore WHEN you get the game, since you already got a digital copy, and most physical copies will likely remain unopened anyway. So it really doesn't matter all that much if you get your copy a couple days later if you ordered from GW directly.

My complaints were never about the delays. I have an issue with the TOTAL lack of communication

It's not ideal. Then again, I think you may have known before you even put in an order that there were probably going to be delays, and long stretches of no information. I mean, for starters it's a PSP game in 2016.

There's also only so much you can communicate about waiting for other parties to do their thing, e.g. Sony Q&A or something. Would you rather receive weekly emails full of promises that are ultimately not kept?
 
That's not really an excuse. It's like this store where I bought something, they took really long to deliver, I complained and they said "well, no one forced you to buy stuff from us".
 
Not to mention the
old
fact that this isn't a limited run, it never was. It's not something that only those who order will get, since both VGP and Play-Asia get copies for Gaijinworks games, every single one of them, enough to last over a year.

It's my fault that I get way too excited and order from Gaijinworks directly when it'd be cheaper and more reliable to order from VGP instead.
If they didn't get enough people willing to pre-order from them, they wouldn't do a physical run. It's still important to get those initial orders in to be able to even make the minimum number of physical copies. Then they can just order a few more copies printed and give them to select few retailers for some extra profit. Besides, it's not like VGP & Play-Asia are getting thousands of copies. If they last for over a year then it more likely means that only a few people have bought them rather than Gaijinworks scamming everyone for Big Profits or something.

You also get a digital copy from VGP

My complaints were never about the delays. I have an issue with the TOTAL lack of communication
They've usually given out information whenever there is information to give. I don't require a weekly "we are still working on it." Tell us when you have something to tell and that's what they've done, albeit not always in the best manner. Still, they told us about finally getting the UMDs in March and that they would be starting shipments within a few weeks of that, though we are somewhat stretching the definition of "few weeks" by now, but they are a super small company, it's to be expected that things don't advance all that quickly since even small setbacks & things can mean a week or two delay.
 
It's not ideal. Then again, I think you may have known before you even put in an order that there were probably going to be delays, and long stretches of no information. I mean, for starters it's a PSP game in 2016.

There's also only so much you can communicate about waiting for other parties to do their thing, e.g. Sony Q&A or something. Would you rather receive weekly emails full of promises that are ultimately not kept?
Vic could just come in here and post every now and then, like he did when doing PR

that would be a start

I didn't know it would be like this before, this is my first Gaijinworks pre order. And it being a PSP game has nothing to do with it
 
That's not really an excuse. It's like this store where I bought something, they took really long to deliver, I complained and they said "well, no one forced you to buy stuff from us".

You're not buying from a store here though, you're pretty much buying directly from the manufacturer.

And Vic did actually send out a couple of updates outlining the problems he has faced in the process. Like I said, there's only so much you can put in updates.

It's not my place to come up with excuses for Vic, but you'd think that the most important part of that tweet I posted (provided it gets confirmed) is that the game's release is VERY close now.

Not so much when and how things are communicated...

I didn't know it would be like this before, this is my first Gaijinworks pre order. And it being a PSP game has nothing to do with it

Ok, well, now you know. ;-)

It being a physical PSP game in 2016 only has EVERYTHING to do with all the troubles this manufacturing process ran into and the long wait.

Vic could just come in here and post every now and then, like he did when doing PR

I'm not sure what you expect him to post when there is literally nothing to report...? Like when he's waiting for weeks himself for updates from third parties he needs something from.
 
As I've said before a quick once a month or every few weeks tweet would be nice. Takes 2 seconds to do. "Hey here's our monthly update: __________"
 
I'm not sure what you expect him to post when there is literally nothing to report...? Like when he's waiting for weeks himself for updates from third parties he needs something from.
He could say literally anything

Anything would be better than silence.

Take 10 minutes, say "nothing to report", quote some people and answer 2-3 questions

ultra basic community management. It's really not that complicated
 
As I've said before a quick once a month or every few weeks tweet would be nice. Takes 2 seconds to do. "Hey here's our monthly update: __________"

He could say literally anything

Anything would be better than silence.

Like so?

"Hi guys, this is our monthly update. There is nothing to report. Sony said they would get back to us by the end of the week, but they didn't. See you next month."

No company ever does that.

Once again, that's not the problem

Once again, this communication thing you keep falling over is also a minor thing compared to getting the actual product.
 
Is the PSN code in the actual case or does it come separate?

This is Tempting... I'm tired of waiting when this is coming to Europe.
 
Like so?

"Hi guys, this is our monthly update. There is nothing to report. Sony said they would get back to us by the end of the week, but they didn't. See you next week."

No company ever does that.
Companies absolutely do that
Every single question I ask Marvelous over Twitter is answered.
Gaijinworks? *crickets*
Once again, this communication thing you keep falling over is also a minor thing compared to getting the actual product.
to you maybe? This is a very important part if they want me as a future customer. It's not only about SN5 but also their future projects, which I will not be backing like this
 
Once again, that's not the problem
Then what is? While they've been quiet for some longer stretches of time, it's been because they've been busy actually doing the work that they've previously said they would do. They've always announced the bigger milestones (that the manufacturing of the physical goods is completed, that they were fixing bugs, that they were having some troubles getting the UMDs into printing once the bug-fixing messed up their original schedule, that they had gotten the UMDs etc.).

When they say "we've hit a bit of a road block with the production of UMDs, it's going to take longer than anticipated", what good would it have done to have some weekly "no, still not done" announcement? They announced right away when they did get the UMDs, so they update when there's reason to. They'll probably send us e-mail when they have shipped or are about to ship our copies. Any earlier than that is unnecessary because it doesn't change the fact that our copies aren't quite yet being shipped.
 
Marvelous Europe is like 10 people
Not sure how many you need to look at a Twitter account 15 minutes a day

10 people dedicated to answering tweets most of the time, lol, because they're likely purely a marketing team.

Marvelous worldwide is like 450 people.
GW worldwide is under 10 people. Maybe even under 5.
 
From VGP? So when I make an order there I get the code via email aswell?
You have to ask VGP for the code

not sure why, but just send them an email

but yeah it's included
Marvelous worldwide is like 450 people.
GW worldwide is under 10 people. Maybe even under 5.
I'm not talking about Marvelous worldwide, what does that have to do with anything?
Marvelous Europe works relatively independently, started with a very similar business model (crowd funding pre-order to get money for production up front) and has excellent communication

and they're comparable in size to gw
10 people dedicated to answering tweets most of the time, lol, because they're likely purely a marketing team.
...sure
whatever you say lol
 
I'm not talking about Marvelous worldwide, what does that have to do with anything?

So, to you an independent 10-people company is the same as a 10-people company fully owned and backed by a 450-people company? There would be no difference in resources?

Marvelous Europe works relatively independently, started with a very similar business model (crowd funding pre-order to get money for production up front) and has excellent communication

I think you missed the part where GW does the complete localization, up to reprogramming the code.

What Marvelous Europe do is likely mostly marketing, potentially hiring third parties to do the translation, and certainly not coding themselves.

GaijinWorks pretty much only has Vic to do the marketing (on social media), and he runs everything else as well.

What is this crowd funding you speak of Marvelous did, btw?
 
I think you missed the part where GW does the complete localization, up to reprogramming the code.

What Marvelous Europe do is likely mostly marketing, potentially hiring third parties to do the translation, and certainly not coding themselves.

GaijinWorks pretty much only has Vic to do the marketing on social media, and he runs everything else as well.

What is this crowd funding you speak of Marvelous did, btw?
How is that at all relevant? I'm talking about looking at a Twitter account and posting in a forum every now and then to show that your company still exists. Community involvement. LRG is two people and they manage to do that just fine.

The crowd funding was for Senran Kagura 2
 
How is that at all relevant? I'm talking about looking at a Twitter account and posting in a forum every now and then to show that your company still exists. Community involvement. LRG is two people and they manage to do that just fine.

The crowd funding was for Senran Kagura 2

Nothing is relevant when all you're looking for is expressing some unresolved grievance.

Lol, LRG simply ignore any question they don't like.

Anyway, I'm done discussing this with you. Clearly you are displeased with the way things went and feel free to vent all of that towards Vic when he returns on here. ;-)

You're not even happy the game might actually be released next week... enough said.
 
How is that at all relevant? I'm talking about looking at a Twitter account and posting in a forum every now and then to show that your company still exists. Community involvement. LRG is two people and they manage to do that just fine.

The crowd funding was for Senran Kagura 2
That's exactly what they have done. They've posted updates when there is something meaningful to say. If the situation hasn't changed from something they said 3-4 weeks ago, they haven't felt the need to say anything.
 
Not really, no

Marvelous Europe is like 10 people
Not sure how many you need to look at a Twitter account 15 minutes a day
Then why did you even back it? Gaijinworks has FOUR people, tops. I wish Victor had updated us more, sure, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it.
 
Then why did you even back it? Gaijinworks has FOUR people, tops. I wish Victor had updated us more, sure, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

What does the number of employees have to do with my decision to back it lol?

How was I supposed to know how this would go before I backed it? I thought the game looked cool, I liked Vic's passion for the project. I didn't know he would regularly disappear for months.

I don't think we'll disagree so there's no point in talking about it. I'll know better next time. While the game is great and I would buy it again, I'm not going to blindly pre-order from a business that has so little respect for its customers again. The end.
 
What does the number of employees have to do with my decision to back it lol?

I mean in that you don't care that it's about to be released. That should be the important thing. Sadly delays are par for the course with Vic and WD, most vets are probably expecting that by now.
 
I mean in that you don't care that it's about to be released. That should be the important thing. Sadly delays are par for the course with Vic and WD, most vets are probably expecting that by now.
I played the game months ago.

It's hard to get excited about the UMD at this point
 
I am happy this will be sent out soon. I am also very surprised that someone other than Vic spilled these beans. It is very unlike him, however whether it comes from him or from VGP is all the same to me.

Personally, I feel like there were several parts of this process that have been mishandled in regards to the communication aspect, but I don't necessarily think they are all Vic's fault. The radio silence during crunch-time does indeed get old, but I have been a Vic fan for almost 20 years, so I am used to it by now. I don't like it, but given my history as a customer with Working Designs and Gaijinworks both, I have never doubted that Vic will deliver, and it will be a quality project.

Going forward, I really feel like Vic needs to address the communication issues if he is going to be able to build the Gaijinworks brand. New customers that don't have the history with Vic get very nervous with the "unexpected" delays and radio silence. We see it on his boards on a daily/weekly basis.

I know he is currently working on 3 games (Summon Night 5, Class of Heroes 3, and at least 1 unnamed project) so he is super busy, but a lot of people don't know/understand his process. I will support Vic as long as he is in business; he has earned that from me. I just hope he finds ways to earn the trust and support of other customers as well.
 
Victor Ireland just posted this on the GW forums:

Vic Ireland on Gaijin Outpost said:
Not dead, haven't forgotten my password, etc, etc. I couldn't say anything really because the timelines were so screwed up, and there's a couple other pretty major things for other projects that were unexpectedly thrown into the mix we had to deal with (and are still dealing with) to really slow everything down. I can't talk about the other stuff (some good, some bad...pretty bad), but it will all come out over time, and you'll see what we were dealing with behind the scenes.

Anyway, some of you that got in like minute one, might have yours today or tomorrow. We'll be rolling out all the shipments daily now. Once you have it in hand, you'll immediately be glad you got in before our presales closed and didn't have to get it elsewhere.
 
I wonder if they "really bad" has to do with Class of Heroes 3 production. Honestly, I'm still surprised the UMD factory is still open, since even DS carts are going byebye already.
 
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